Ecotoxicological evaluation of sediments applied to environmental forensic investigation

The present study aimed to evaluate the potential for using toxicity assays with sediment samples for the detection of water pollution caused by the discharge of tannery effluents into water bodies and its application to environmental forensic investigation. The study included ecotoxicological evalu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inBrazilian journal of biology Vol. 75; no. 4; p. 886
Main Authors Alves, R H, Rietzler, A C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Brazil 01.11.2015
Subjects
Animals
Arthropods - drug effects
Brazil
Cadmium - toxicity
Chromium - toxicity
Environmental Monitoring
Forensic Toxicology - methods
Gastropoda - drug effects
Geologic Sediments - analysis
Lead - toxicity
Oligochaeta - drug effects
Rivers
Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity
Brazil
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The present study aimed to evaluate the potential for using toxicity assays with sediment samples for the detection of water pollution caused by the discharge of tannery effluents into water bodies and its application to environmental forensic investigation. The study included ecotoxicological evaluation of sediments, survey of benthic organisms in the field, as well as chromium, cadmium and lead dosage which provided data for a sediment quality triad evaluation. The sediment samples showed acute and chronic toxicity to the bioindicators, low biodiversity of benthic macrofauna and high chromium concentration, reaching up to 4365 mg.Kg-1. A close relationship was observed between the separate results of ecotoxicological sediment evaluation and the sediment quality triad. The sediment ecotoxicological assessment proved to be applicable to tracking sources of contamination related to tanneries and similar activities in environmental forensics.
ISSN:1678-4375
DOI:10.1590/1519-6984.02214